


At Sunset

by prosaicwonder



Category: Beyblade, ベイブレードバースト | Beyblade Burst (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Present Tense, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 15:30:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11900667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prosaicwonder/pseuds/prosaicwonder
Summary: In which Valt arrives on the beach at the wrong moment and catches Shu in a less-than-ideal situation.





	At Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> Sort of a time-skip AU probably, though there are references to S1E49.

Sometimes, when he wanted to be alone, Shu found himself standing by the shore and looking at the vast openness of the sea in front of him, where the orange-red sun would meet the sky and the sea halfway, and it would just be him with the sound of the waves and the crunch of the sand below his shoes.

 

This day is no exception, and - despite both his mental and physical exhaustion - he still looks out into the horizon wordlessly. There is a flurry of emotions inside his mind, and he cannot just pick one out of the conglomeration to settle on. It had been a long day, after all.

 

He presses Spriggan into his palm, the remaining pieces of its layer disk cold and unmoving, devoid of the warmth and strength it used to encompass. In front of others, he has to portray strength at all times: he would not allow himself to show any signs of weakness, not because of any sort of terrible upbringing - no, it's all because of his own rigid set of rules he had implanted in his own mind. For years, Shu had been dead-set on achieving true self-discipline, and was not to give up a fight even if the chances of winning had been at their slimmest. Each time Shu had told himself that things were fine, the less he believed the words to be true. He's lost count of how many times he had done this: when he had injured his shoulder during that one regional tournament, when the same thing had happened a few months later, when Spriggan had been in trouble and everything was fine, was _still fine_ \--

 

Shu presses his fingernails deeper into the skin of his palm, feeling the hard plastic underneath his grip. His hand is also shaking, he realises then, and he allows himself a moment to let the feeling sink in. If he grips even harder at Spriggan, perhaps it will shatter into another few pieces. After all, it's not as if Spriggan can even be repaired anymore.

 

Who was he kidding, to think that his Beyblade would be fine during the battle? He's not even sure if Spriggan's spirit is still alive, or if they would even meet again. He wants to believe that it still is, that it's still burning as wildly as it had when they had shared their first battle together, but their last moments earlier that day has only left him with more unanswered questions, mostly directed towards himself. Why didn't he _listen for once_...?

 

He wouldn't have minded if he had gotten injured again; Spriggan, on the other hand, was a different story...

 

"It's all my fault..." Shu trails off, his voice cracking as he lets out a shaky breath, and then that dreaded feeling surfaces, tearing and pulling apart all the seams that had held him together for so long, ripping _something_ apart from the inside out and suddenly everything was too bright and blurry and too _wet_ , far more than the ocean's waves in front of him or the damp sand under his feet.

 

A strangled sob then escapes his throat, and then the next thing he realises is that he's collapsed against the shore; his other hand grabs at fistfuls of wet sand, and he repeats this over and over in a way to try and pacify himself. It doesn't work.

 

There seems to be a crack of lightning, a flash of thunder, before the droplets begin to fall one-by-one: fragments of a storm swirl in his mind, a tornado wracks through his body, causing him to crumple even more against the soft sand below, and his emotions are a hurricane that threatens to destroy everything he's built up until this point. He's aware of the way his control is rapidly slipping, so he still tries to cry silently even though the tear tracks already mark his cheeks and he cannot bring himself to stand up and fight it anymore.

 

"I'm sorry, Spriggan." Shu chokes out, voice cracking and fresh tears burning at his eyes, and all he feels is mock-fury and a dying fire and perhaps also a little bit of sadness, but he also truly _feels_ the hollow emptiness within him, like the unseen aftermath of a supernova. It's a strange sort of coldness that he's not used to. "I'm so, _so_ sorry-..."

 

"Shu-!!" A voice suddenly calls out from behind him, and he freezes. Oh shit, shit shit shit _shit_ \--

 

Hastily, Shu brings his forearm up to wipe at his eyes roughly. He cannot turn around yet, not even if it's Valt who is behind him. He wonders if it's okay to even do that, since Shu was the one who ended up breaking their promise.

 

"I found you, Shu!" Valt yells from a distance away, and just hearing his best friend's voice alone is enough to lift some of the heaviness in his chest away. Valt - for as long as they've known each other, anyway - is a constant presence of warmth and light, like a midnight sun which he finds himself drawn to at all times, even when he is at his worst.

 

Shu's mind is then flung into a series of panicked thoughts, because Valt is too damn fast and he's already leaping off the stairs and running towards him but Shu's still trying to wipe the tears away and trying to stand up properly so he can at least not look like a mess in front of the person he needs to be strong in front of the most--

 

And then the entire world around him seems to stop when a hand is suddenly planted on his shoulder: time, space, the waves around him, even his own breathing too, he thinks.

 

"Shu, look at me."

 

He doesn't have to turn around to know that Valt is standing beside him. What he thinks next, is that he is grateful that it is _Valt_   who came to seek him out instead of anyone else, and then his thoughts drift to what caused him to fall apart in the first place. He knows how much his stubborn streak has cost him, has caused him to lose the things that are most important to him, and yet he finds himself torn again: not sure if he should keep acting the same as before or if he should stop, because everything _hurts_ and he's just tired of pushing others away - just a little bit.

 

Shu eventually turns around to face his best friend, though his gaze is fixed upon the gloved hand on his own shoulder and not on Valt's eyes. He ignores the soft gasp which emits from the other boy, the obvious hint of worry in his voice, but notes the way Valt's hand presses a little bit harder into the pale pink fabric of his dress shirt. He knows that Valt knows, too, and finds himself inwardly thankful that the other boy doesn't speak for the next few minutes. Valt waits patiently for him to collect himself so that Shu can finally return his gaze, and he silently listens to the gentle lapping of the beach's waves against the soft orange glow of the seashore as Shu's breathing calms down.

 

To his shock, Valt finds tears of his own prickling at the edges of his eyes, but he cannot bring himself to cry now - he finds himself wanting more than ever to be the one to support Shu in return: for as long as Valt could remember, the other boy had been a constant rock for him, someone who accepted him for who he was and acknowledged him as a worthy opponent from the beginning. It was the least he could do.

 

So he takes a step and closes the gap between them so he can wrap his arms around his best friend, settling his chin into the space between Shu's neck and shoulder. It's a bit awkward because of the height difference, with Shu being quite a bit taller than the other blader, but they stay in that position nonetheless. The sun - now a stark contrast of reddish-orange against the greyish blues of the approaching nightfall sky - makes its way further down, seemingly drowning in the liquid golden zone where the sea meets the sky. The storm in their hearts has probably stopped by now, though there is still an odd tension in the air. Neither boy dares to move from their position or utter a single word - for now, at least.

 

Shu is the first to break contact, doing so by gently pulling himself out of Valt's grasp, and Valt feels a twinge of disappointment at that. However, he lets his arms move away until they drop at his sides, and he looks up at the other boy with questioning eyes.

 

"We'll - ... we'll find a way around this," Shu speaks softly, faltering a bit because he's still not completely over the last battle and everything else that happened afterwards. Valt just continues to stare up at him, silently urging for him to continue.

 

"Spriggan and I will get stronger," he goes on, and suddenly the cracked pieces of Spriggan don't feel so cold anymore against the palm of his hand.

 

"That's good to hear," is all Valt says, and there's that sunshine grin again which casts bright rays of warmth within Shu, and that unfamiliar iciness dissolves and molds into something else which makes his stomach flip and a feeling of hope brim in his chest.

 

"My outcome may have been decided already, but I still won't give up." Shu then replies, and he knows that all of Valt's attention is fixed on him now, because there is an edge of resolve in the way he had spoken those words. He knows that Spriggan will come back to him - somehow, he just _does_.

 

And then Shu's eyes are finally on Valt's, volcanic and steely all at once, and Valt finds himself staring in awe, because Shu Kurenai will _never_ give up. Spriggan is like a phoenix: one day it will arise from the ashes to be reborn into something even stronger. Valt decides that he can wait until then: they will most surely battle again some day.

 

"If anyone is able to win this next battle, it's you," Shu says quietly, and the corners of Valt's mouth curve into a smile in response. He notices the way Shu mirrors his own expression, and the way his best friend's soft smile clashes with the molten fire in his ruby eyes causes a type of spark to ignite within Valt; it is the match which lights the same fire within himself, and fills Valt with a fierce sort of excitement for his next match in the finals. He definitely cannot lose.

 

There's another few seconds of nothingness apart from the sounds of the waves crashing around them, until Shu opens his mouth to break the silence again:

 

"Promise you'll do your best, Valt." _For me_ , Shu wants to say, but instead he adds: "For you."

 

Valt's face then cracks into a wide grin, and that alone - somehow - causes all the tension and worry from earlier to dissipate into thin air, and all Shu can think of in that moment is how fitting that expression is on Valt: it's warm, like the early morning rays of sunlight, but also dazzling and glittery like the rarest constellations of stars and- ... and there's something strangely beautiful and otherworldly about all of it. Seeing Valt happy was something that always put him at ease - at that moment, Shu wondered if the other boy felt the same way, too.

 

Valt's expression changes into something softer, fonder... before he turns around to regard the view in front of the two of them. He can't help but let out a breath in awe: it's been so long since he's seen the golden glow of the setting sun draped against the deep vastness of the ocean waters, and even longer since he's seen the faint outlines of starscapes begin to form in the darkening sky above. It's like a painting Valt wishes he could have, but can only keep it imprinted in his memory because his eyes cannot take pictures and no two sunsets are identical. And, as his gaze shifts towards the other boy standing next to him, Valt thinks that Shu is like the moment where sunset transitions into the first stages of evening: his heart is a ball of fire that burns brightly and brings comfort to those around him, and yet he is calm like the deep blues and purples of the setting sky, complex and deep like the ocean in front of them.

 

"I will," Valt says quietly, and then he gently takes one of Shu's hand into his own, both of them standing still as they watch the final moments of the sun disappearing from their view.

 

It is at that moment when the pieces of Spriggan in Shu's other hand suddenly grows warm in his grasp, and also the moment where he allows himself to smile again.


End file.
